Managing Kids’ Christmas Wish Lists

With Christmas approaching at rapid speeds, it’s time to get those Christmas wish lists ready for Santa Claus and Christmas 2018!

Lots of the mummies and daddies in our private group have asked us the same question; where do we start?! We’ve had a chat with the parents in our community to get a feel for what the popular baby and toddler gifts are for 2018 too, and gleaned some useful tips to help you on your way. Good luck!

Setting a reasonable budget…

First things first, you need to set an overall budget for your little one’s Christmas wish list – unless you’re happy to freewheel it and go with the flow as some of our mummies told us they do.

Budgeting for Christmas can be difficult – on the one hand, it’s nice to treat our children, but on the flip side, we shouldn’t run up debt all in the name of showing love, should we? We asked the mummies in our private Facebook community what their budget per child is for Christmas 2018 and how they set it… we had a total of 1121 mummies participate in our poll. Here are the results…

£0-£50 = 5.9%

£50-£100 = 18.4%

£100-£150 = 30.42% – MOST PARENTS ARE BUDGETING £100-£150 PER CHILD IN 2018!

£150-£200 = 21.94%

£200-£250 = 3.7%

£250-£300 = 8.4%

£300-£350 = 1.5%

£350-£400 = 4.8%

£400-£450 = 0.5%

£450-£500 = 1.7%

£500+ = 2.6%

As you can see, the most popular budget per child tends to be £100-£150 but you shouldn’t feel under pressure to spend beyond your means if you’d ideally need to spend less. Obviously it is absolutely fine to spend what you want, but it’s nice to know how many people are in the same boat, isn’t it?

What our mummies & daddies say about setting a budget…

Nicola Murphy: ‘We’ve budgeted for about £150 due to having decided on getting our little girl a big present that will last her approx 5 years and that’s £124. The rest we got are educational and on offer!!’

Amy Louise: ‘I’ve decided this year I’m going to buy toys from charity shops as I’m skint plus they grow out of them so fast and donating to charity at the same time. If I had the money of course I’d buy loads but she’s only 14 months and won’t know any different, plus she has to many already that hardly get played with.’

Katie Farnell: ‘I don’t always have a budget but things kids put on their list I will google, I google everything and see where is cheapest 😊 (no dodgy sites no one ever heard of lol) I am also on save sites and deal sites and i have saved £100s this way 😊

We love this ‘four gift rule’ graphic shown to us by our group member Coral Goater – it is super sensible and sounds like lots of fun too. I’ll be following this to help me keep my spending on track, as well as adding a few extra goodies.

What will be popular on baby and toddler 2018 Christmas wish lists?

In need of some inspiration or goodies to prompt your little one if they’re struggling to decide? We asked the mummies in our private group what they’re getting for their little ones this Christmas, and here are the top 10 items mentioned:

10 – Rockit* – This toy repeats what you says, as well as many other features, and looks SO fun!

What happens if something on your child’s wish list is totally out of stock?

Next, we need to consider that it’s all well and good having a Christmas wish list, but what do we do in the worst case scenario?

Picture this; the toy that your little one desires above and beyond all else, is OUT OF STOCK everywhere! You can’t even find it at an inflated price in selling groups or on Facebook Marketplace. What do you do and how do you explain it to your child? The best advice I can give to parents is this; make sure you have a back-up plan.

Our group members shared the following sensible tips for situations like this;

Claire: My 3yr old has been told that all though she asks Santa for what she wants she may or may not get it. But Santa might send something else that he thinks she will like.

Sonya: I’d tell my oldest Santa couldn’t make anymore and so many other boys and girls wanted that toy too. Mostly likely in a few days she would forget she wanted it x

Should I tell my children gifts are from Santa?

So, you’ve finally got your little one to tell you what they’d like to open on Christmas morning… now to consider how you’ll explain the labels from family & friends!

Lots of mummies and daddies decide to delegate gifts to ensure that family and friends get thanked. They may even have a pile specifically from mummy and daddy rather than from Santa to help their child learn the value of money.

Charlotte: The big presents are from us and the smaller, stocking filler type presents are from Santa and Rudolph.

Ashleigh: We tell our sons, that we buy the presents, then when they’re asleep, Santa comes and collects them from us and gives them to the elves to wrap and Santa brings them back on Christmas Day. So they know presents are from us/friends/family as well as keeping the magic alive. It means our eldest gets to write thank you cards as well which he enjoys doing xx

Kirsty: Santa has a lot of children to get around and not everyone is as lucky, so he gets 1 gift and a stocking filler up from Santa and the rest from me and family etc… Always remember to buy different wrapping paper… “Mummy isn’t it funny Santa has the same wrapping paper?”

Sending a letter to Santa in 2018…

Once you have the wish list finalised, what can you do with it? You could send it to Santa!

Royal Mail actually has an *official* address for Santa Claus, and for Christmas 2018, they will send your little one’s wish list to Santa if you post it by December 8th. They can’t guarantee that he will reply directly but he’ll try his best – you can find all the important details here.

You can buy these gorgeous letters to Santa to add some extra magic…

Letter to Santa Pack

This letter to Santa pack containing 4 coloured pencils, 2 letters to Santa, 2 printed envelopes and 1 sheet of stickers is superb value for money and could be such a fun family activity. You can find it at PieridaeGifts*.

Letter To Santa Kit

This cute kit comes with 2 letters and 2 envelopes – we love the adorable Santa face & hat! You can find it at InspiredByAlma*.

Letters From Santa

If you want to add some extra festive magic, you can even buy personalised letters from Santa in response to your little one sending their Christmas wishlist! Here are our favourites…

Letter from Santa Claus

This personalised letter from the Big Man himself is sealed with the official wax stamp of Santa Claus and tied with candy cane string, and also comes with magic reindeer food and a believer-bell! You can find it at MunchkinMailShop*.

Peppermint Scented Letter from Santa

This glittery personalised letter from Santa comes sealed with a wax stamp featuring Santa’s initals! You can find it at atasteofeverything*.

Can we email our list to Santa?

Yes, you can! My family always use this website for my younger nieces and nephews, as an email can be sent any day of the year and Santa will reply immediately!

Tell us how you’re managing your child’s Christmas wish list in the comments.